China's Zhang Wins Women's Individual Foil in Busan Asiad

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 01, 2002

China's Zhang Wins Women's Individual Foil in Busan Asiad

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Chinese Zhang Lei, a young athlete without any international titles before, took the women's foil individual gold here on Monday evening, beating South Korean veteran Lim Mi-kyung, the silver medalist of the 1998 Bangkok Asiad, 15-9 in the final.

Throwing away her mask and raising her two arms, Zhang smiled and hugged with her coach Ren Daxin. The nervous and intense final duel between Zhang and Lim saw 1-1, 2-2, 4-4, 5-5 in the beginning. Then Zhang, who is taller than Lim, collected two points by counterattacks. But Lim cut the deficit to 6-7 soon.

From then on, Zhang made a brilliant run with six consecutive points to broaden the gap to 13-6. But Lim, who had scored unbelievable nine straight points in the semifinals against Chinese ace Meng Jie, seemed to make the scene again as she stabbed three points in just 10 seconds.

However, Zhang did not give Lim the chance to repeat her miracle. Instead, she staged two timing attacks to seal the third victory of the Chinese Asiad fencing team, which had collected men's foil individual and men's epee individual golds on Sunday evening.

"I did not think about if I could get a medal in the competitions. What was in my mind in the duel was what the opponent would do and what I should do." Zhang said after the match.

Before the final, Zhang had upset South Korean young talent Seo Mi-jung, the eighth of the Lisbon World Fencing Championships in August, 9-8 in the semi-final which was also a breathtaking duel making hundreds of South Korean spectators screaming off and on.

"Although my opponents are the eighth of the World Fencing Championships and the silver medalist of the 1998 Bangkok Asiad, I think we are at the same level of strength. I don't have a bit worry of playing with them." Zhang said.

Zhang's coach Ren said," I had asked Zhang to think more about what she should do in the game. And she did very well. I am satisfied with her confidence in the duel."

"Our strength in the team event is even stronger than that in the individual. Today's victory will no doubt encourage us to go further ahead." he said.

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